Mt. Takao Firewalking Festival

Now that I've been home for nearly 2 weeks, it seems like the time I spent in Tokyo was ages ago. I've looked through pictures and read past blogs to keep the memories fresh, but it seems like maybe I was only there a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months.

I know I'll never forget the last Sunday Jody and I were in Japan. It was just a few days after the earthquake and tsunami, and before the nuclear meltdown really began. The mood seemed somber and sad, but the people of Japan held their heads high and carried on.

That last Sunday, Jody and I went to the Mt. Takao Hiwatari Matsuri, or firewalking festival. The hardcore mountain monks from the Yakuoin temple come down to the village for the yearly festival, leading a procession through the village and ending with a walk across the hot embers of a pine needle fire. I've read that the festival signifies all kinds of things - familial peace, elimination of of delusion, health, purity - and although I am not quite sure, I would guess that all of those things were on the minds of the Japanese people that day.

The Rainbow Bridge

Maybe it's because I grew up in south Florida, but I've always had a thing for bridges. How they're built and the way they connect one mass of land to another has always intrigued me. I had read in our Tokyo guidebook about the Rainbow Bridge and was anxious to see it from the moment we got to Japan.

I'd tried walking to the bridge two times before I finally made it there with Jody the Sunday before the earthquake. Although it looked much more spectacular in professional photographs than it did when we walked across it, the 30 minute trek over the suspended structure was still a great experience.

What was on the other side of the bridge was even better than the bridge itself - Odaiba is a man made island built during the Edo period to help protect Tokyo from intruders. Today, it is a favorite dating spot for Tokyoites; complete with shops, restaurants and a small beach with a grand view of the skyscrapers of the city.

{Rainbow Bridge - we walked over it!}

{view from the man made beach}

. {Jody & I on the boardwalk at sunset}

Home Sweet Home

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it was impossible to blog from China.

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Spring is in full bloom in Charlotte, and I am oh-so-happy to be home again. I promise there are more posts to come about a few more adventures in Japan, as well as our time in China. What a whirlwind!

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For now I am going to catch up some serious snuggle time with Buddy, spend time with friends, and get my internal clock back to normal... and of course, I've already been to Trader Joe's.

{spring in Charlotte}

Time To Go

The news footage of the damage and destruction left behind after Friday's quake and tsunami is so sad to watch, as I am sure you all would agree. Being so close (yet so far) to the devastation is unsettling and nerve racking for me, and the effects of the nuclear power plant trouble are being felt in Tokyo. There is little food and water left in the grocery stores, long lines at the gas stations & scheduled electricity rationing.

Jody and I had already scheduled a trip to Beijing and will be leaving tomorrow afternoon as planned, and I think it is fair to say that we're both anxious to be leaving Japan for a week. We will be able to watch the coverage of everything that is happening in Japan from afar and we'll have the chance to assess what to do next. Currently, I have plans to fly home the day after we get back from China & Jody will be staying in Tokyo to finish up his work here. If the situation grows worse, he of course will be coming home too. Right now though, that's the plan.

I know that our family and friends are worried about us, and Jody & I are so grateful for all of the concern and care we've been shown. I want to assure everyone that we are safe and staying abreast of the situation here in Japan.

Soon, I promise to return to my normal & cheerful blogging.

Earthquake Aftermath

If I had known that Wednesday's 7.3 earthquake was just a prelude to the 8.9 quake that hit Japan on Friday, I wouldn't have made a silly post about a song and a 30-second building sway. I've thought about taking the initial post down, considered erasing both...but then realized that I wouldn't rip pages out of my travel journal, would I?

Thank you to everyone at home for reaching out to us and showing so much concern. The worst of everything didn't even come close to us, and my heart just breaks for the thousands and thousands directly affected in NE Japan. Reading the news every few hours has kept the gravity and reality of the situation in check for me, but it still seems unreal that such tragedy is happening just a few hundred miles away.

I Feel The Earth Move - Take 2

As I'm sure everyone has heard, Japan had another earthquake today - about four hours ago. With continued aftershocks, we wandered around our neighborhood for most of the afternoon and evening. The streets are much more crowded than normal with masses of people walking home since the subway is shut down.

It looks like the tsunami that followed the 8.9 quake was pretty devastating for many Japanese coastal towns, and there are alerts for much of the Pacific. I really hope everyone is able to recover quickly and with ease.

{short video of the traffic built up on the main roads and the empty highway, shut down because it is a suspended structure}

I Feel The Earth Move

I have always loved Carole King's I Feel The Earth Move - it's an oldie but a goodie. It's relevant in my life now because of the great relationship I share with Jody, but also because today we actually felt the earth move.

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The day started like most other weekdays, Jody left for work around 8am and I figured out what to do with my Wednesday. Around noon, I was on the phone with my great roommate and friend Taylor, talking about a friend's baby shower and how Buddy is doing... and then, it happened.

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I felt the earth move under my feet.

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Actually, I was sitting down and it seemed more like being on a fishing boat in rocky waters, but the effects of a far-off earthquake were felt, and of course, Carole King's hit popped in my head and hasn't left all day.

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Turns out the quake was a 7.3 on the Richter scale & about 90 miles off the northeast coast of Japan, around 270 miles away from Tokyo. Having grown up on the East Coast of the U.S. and never experiencing such a thing, I was relieved to be on the phone with Taylor who calmly told me to hang up and go stand in a doorway. Of course as soon as I hung up, the swaying stopped and Jody called...and I actually didn't panic.
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Now it's close to 9pm and I can hear Jody singing Carole King from the living room - it's a catchy little tune.
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I don't have a picture of the building swaying (obviously), so here's a picture of something that makes me smile:

{Buddy - middle, with his pals Tessie (L) & Marley (R) - I can't wait to see his little face in a few weeks.}